Death By Taco offers a fresh take on Mexican street food, carefully combining authenticity and originality. We aim to honor the culture by highlighting staple ingredients and layering them with depth, flavor, color, and creativity.
After moving to the triangle with his family as a child, Victor Saldana remembers when Mexican
food options were limited in the area. There were only a handful of Mexican chain restaurants, and back then these restaurants seemingly offered the same uninspired menu.
Chef Victor drew inspiration from his professional experience, the street vendors in Mexico, the fusion of cultures in California, social media trends, and personal experiences from his travels. The idea in his head slowly started to take shape.
While working at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, Victor met Fitsum Kebede. They quickly became
friends and realized that they complimented each other in many ways. They worked well as a team and discussed opening a restaurant together one day. Victor’s passion for Mexican food combined with Fitsum’s entrepreneurial spirit would serve as the heartbeat of their future partnership. Their opportunity would arrive sooner than they expected.
The COVID pandemic in 2020-2021 were certainly challenging years for the food industry, but it also offered time for reflection and reevaluation that will undoubtedly shape the future of this industry. Victor and Fitsum used this time to carefully analyze the suddenly changing landscape and plan out their food service business. They decided to open a food truck, and in 2022 they outfitted a trailer into a mobile kitchen. DeathByTaco was born.